Rose Marz

Date of Award

2012

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Humanities

First Advisor

Reid, Amy

Keywords

Literature, Folklore, American Literature

Area of Concentration

French

Abstract

This thesis examines four distinct folklore traditions from across the North American continent �the African American, Franco-Canadian, Appalachian and Cajun�by comparing the characteristics and stories of their prominent trickster heroes: Br'er Rabbit, Ti-Jean, Jack, and Lapin. The folk heroes I examine arose among the New World immigrants who were living in an unstable environment. These socially and geographically marginalized groups used folklore creation to strengthen their internal community and develop strategies of subversive resistance against the larger social hierarchy. I argue that these folklore heroes are representative of the cultural adaptations used by the groups to adjust to their new social and natural environment. To this end, I also compare these figures to the folktale heroes prevalent among the groups before they immigrated to the American continent, establishing the differences between the trickster heroes of the Old and New Worlds. While my primary methodology is close-reading, I also I draw on a background of literary and folkloric theory from the past century. The first chapter examines the figure of Br'er Rabbit in the African American tradition found in the Southern United States, establishing this trickster rabbit as a continuation of oral folklore traditions brought to the United States by African slaves and then demonstrating how Br'er Rabbit participates in the creation of subversive strategies of resistance. The second chapter considers the paired figures of Jack, of the Appalachian Mountain tradition, and Ti-Jean, whose stories are told throughout the French Canadian provinces. The chapter explores the similarities inherent to the Jack and Ti-Jean traditions, as well as the differing concerns and motivations reflected both in the divergent European sources for the tales and their respective American folktale traditions. The third chapter highlights the effect of folklore diffusion on a tradition, using the Cajun folklore tradition as a case study. The chapter examines a selection of tales that feature Louisiana French manifestations of Ti-Jean and Br'er Rabbit, heroes added to the Cajun tradition by Acadian and African American tale tellers. The texts of some of the tales analyzed in the thesis are included in appendices. This thesis concludes by establishing these stories in the context of the larger American literary tradition.

Rights

This bibliographic record is available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication. The New College of Florida, as creator of this bibliographic record, has waived all rights to it worldwide under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights, to the extent allowed by law.

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